Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America

Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America

Author	James Davison Hunter
Genre	Political Science
Publisher	Basic Books
Publication date	December 2, 1991
ISBN	9780465015337

Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America is a book written by James Davison Hunter and published in 1991. ^[1]

Synopsis

It concerns the idea of a struggle to define American public life between two cultures: the progressives and the orthodox. The book illustrates its framework of historical analysis through several of the contemporary issues of the time: abortion rights, school prayer, gay rights, and more. ^[2]

Conclusion

Progressive and orthodox views are primarily systems of moral understanding. He identifies orthodoxy as a viewpoint through which moral truth is static, universal, and sanctioned through divine powers; contrasting progressivism, which sees moral truth as evolving and contextual. These two groups are locked in an everlasting "culture war" ^[3] to assert dominion over the various institutional and systemic entities influenced by contemporary cultural praxis, most visibly the governing branches of the United States. ^{[4] [5]}

References

1. Hunter, James Davison (December 2, 1991). Culture Wars: The Struggle To Define America. Basic Books. ISBN   978-0-465-01533-7.
2. Kowaleski, Mark R. (Fall 1992). "James Davison Hunter. "Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America" (Book Review)". Sociological Analysis. 53 (3): 337–338. doi:10.2307/3711713. JSTOR   3711713.
3. Willick, Jason (May 25, 2018). "The Man Who Discovered 'Culture Wars'". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved February 15, 2022.
4. "Transcript: Is There a Culture War?". Pew Research Center. May 23, 2006.
5. "Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction". Kirkus.

Sources

• Grimes, Michael D. (1993). "Review". Social Science Quarterly. 74 (1): 230. JSTOR   42863186.
• Johnson, D. Paul (1992). "Review". Journal of Church and State. 34 (3): 607–608. doi:10.1093/jcs/34.3.607. JSTOR   23919465.
• Kurtz, Lester R. (1994). "Review". American Journal of Sociology. 99 (4): 1125–1128. doi:10.1086/230395. JSTOR   2781763.
• Mechling, Jay (1994). "Review". American Studies. 35 (1): 155–156. JSTOR   40642591.